according to all the reports i'm hearing/reading, the family barely lived in chechnya at all due to (early on) being part of a mass forced exodus, and (later on) the beginnings of the first chechnyan war, which a family member has said they wanted no part of, having spent almost no time in chechnya to begin with

so, it's looking like they have more to do with kyrgystan (sp?) and usa than they do with chechnya

Oh please. A large segment of the American public cannot deal with the idea that a Black President born in Hawaii is a "Real American." Do you really think they're going to buy that a Muslim born in Chechnya who attacked Boston is an "American?" Pardon me for being cynical, but biatch, please.

These men were 19 and 26 and came to the US 8 or 9 years ago from what I've heard reported. As they were already 11 and 18 and continued to live in a Chechen community, I think their values are totally Chechen, President Kadyrov.

Blues_X:I wonder if this is going to be a "crazy big brother convinced little brother" situation.

seems that way

vernonFL:Supposedly the younger one - the one now on the loose - is a pothead. His friends said "how could be be a terrorist? he's such a stoner."

at my 2nd job i work with a lot of people (mostly younger...late-teens, early-20s) from many other countries...middle eastern, some eastern european, asian, african...many of whom are apparent potheads. some of them look the part of your stereotypical middle eastern terrorist...but act like normal american stoners. i would not suspect them in anything.

I was at Orange Leaf, a frozen yogurt place, yesterday. They staff nothing but snotty seventeen year old kids who think customer service has something to do with them receiving tips. Anyway, this little biatch with black eye make-up and her uniform shiat tied in a not to show her belly button was working the register. I brought up my typical 55 ounce waffle cone, half peanut butter, half mint chocolate chip. She was a skinny little thing, so she looked at me and my ailing thyroid like I'd crawled out of the sea. I wanted to scream at her about how I walked on the treadmill for almost twenty minutes - EARNING MY TREAT - but I knew the concept of working to earn something meant nothing to her. Then disaster struck - while reaching for my wallet, I lost my balance, nearly toppled over backward, and simultaneously dropped my entire beautiful cone on the floor. I'd spent a lot of time making it perfect, a little pride in my work - another concept foreign to this little twit.

First thing she says, lips snarled, "You still have to pay for that, you know."

Ok, fine. I dropped it. My bad. But don't you think you might say, "Oh, I'm so sorry your beautiful cone fell on the floor. That could really mess up your day. It's like you got eyelid cancer and the only cure is removing them. Not mortal, but boy, that sure stings. I'M SORRY."

Instead I get, "You still have to pay."

I almost stormed out, but my blood sugar was so low from exercising all morning that I had to bear her judging glare as I lowered myself to the ground and used just my lips and mouth to eat the part of the yogurt that wasn't touching the ground. I didn't even bother cleaning up the few millimeter barrier; instead, I went and made myself a decent cone and paid for them both. I guess you could say that I showed her!

vernonFL:Supposedly the younger one - the one now on the loose - is a pothead. His friends said "how could be be a terrorist? he's such a stoner."

If anything, the subsequent shooting and carjacking shows the elder one is incredibly stupid. I wouldn't be surprised if the younger would have never done anything sans his older brother.

Not that it absolves him of any guilt in any way. But maybe this guy would have been just another lazy stoner if the older brother never existed. Too bad though. Now we got a handful of people dead and lots brutally injured. And this guy is going to FPMITA prison for a long long time. If he's captured alive, you can bet that people will howl for him to go to gitmo and then be executed.

Somacandra:Oh please. A large segment of the American public cannot deal with the idea that a Black President born in Hawaii is a "Real American." Do you really think they're going to buy that a Muslim born in Chechnya who attacked Boston is an "American?" Pardon me for being cynical, but biatch, please.

truth.these "birthers" obviously are stupid and/or ignorant enough to believe that there aren't extensive background checks performed on folks who hold high offices in our country. heck, i work for the gov't...just a lowly entry-level worker bee...and they did a thorough background check on me, including contacting people i know to gain info about me. to accuse the usa of allowing someone who was not born in the usa to become president is just asinine.truth: obama was born in hawaiitruth: he has family in, and has lived himself in, kenyahe is by far not the first american to have family in, nor to live in, another country outside the usa

I was at Orange Leaf, a frozen yogurt place, yesterday. They staff nothing but snotty seventeen year old kids who think customer service has something to do with them receiving tips. Anyway, this little biatch with black eye make-up and her uniform shiat tied in a not to show her belly button was working the register. I brought up my typical 55 ounce waffle cone, half peanut butter, half mint chocolate chip...

Well, the president is right. The root of evil is in America. If nothing else the response the last 12 hours proves that. The only way we know how to respond to an over-the-top action is with an even more over-he-top reaction. Whatever happened to," stay calm. breathe"? We "lock down" an entire city in the search for one man; people at the bus stops were told to go home and they went; that is the a cavern capitulation to evil. Yesterday a bomb blast in an Iraqi cafe killed 27 people. Life went on.

I was at Orange Leaf, a frozen yogurt place, yesterday. They staff nothing but snotty seventeen year old kids who think customer service has something to do with them receiving tips. Anyway, this little biatch with black eye make-up and her uniform shiat tied in a not to show her belly button was working the register. I brought up my typical 55 ounce waffle cone, half peanut butter, half mint chocolate chip...

Blues_X:I wonder if this is going to be a "crazy big brother convinced little brother" situation.

I keep hearing that but think about it: how do you "convince" someone to become a murdering psychopath? If your sibling said "let's go blow some people up", even if they built up to it gradually, how many people would go along with it? I would hope almost nobody.

bungle_jr:Somacandra: Oh please. A large segment of the American public cannot deal with the idea that a Black President born in Hawaii is a "Real American." Do you really think they're going to buy that a Muslim born in Chechnya who attacked Boston is an "American?" Pardon me for being cynical, but biatch, please.

truth.these "birthers" obviously are stupid and/or ignorant enough to believe that there aren't extensive background checks performed on folks who hold high offices in our country. heck, i work for the gov't...just a lowly entry-level worker bee...and they did a thorough background check on me, including contacting people i know to gain info about me. to accuse the usa of allowing someone who was not born in the usa to become president is just asinine.truth: obama was born in hawaiitruth: he has family in, and has lived himself in, kenyahe is by far not the first american to have family in, nor to live in, another country outside the usa

I've tried that. "Uh, you know Obama's got a Level 5 NATO ATOMAL security clearance, right? There isn't a person on the planet with a higher clearance than Barry."

mr_a:it could be just a translation thing, and what he was saying (and hoping) is that these are not Chechen terrorists, but rather terrorists who happened to be born in Chechnya.

No, he was deflecting and blaming. There's a difference. He's well aware of the active ties between Chechen groups and Al Qaeda, for example. Even the Council on Foreign Relations admits to such interaction.

bungle_jr:Somacandra: Oh please. A large segment of the American public cannot deal with the idea that a Black President born in Hawaii is a "Real American." Do you really think they're going to buy that a Muslim born in Chechnya who attacked Boston is an "American?" Pardon me for being cynical, but biatch, please.

truth.these "birthers" obviously are stupid and/or ignorant enough to believe that there aren't extensive background checks performed on folks who hold high offices in our country. heck, i work for the gov't...just a lowly entry-level worker bee...and they did a thorough background check on me, including contacting people i know to gain info about me. to accuse the usa of allowing someone who was not born in the usa to become president is just asinine.truth: obama was born in hawaiitruth: he has family in, and has lived himself in, kenyahe is by far not the first american to have family in, nor to live in, another country outside the usa

Thank God for Democrats. Without them, I'd honestly never have any idea there was a question about whether or not Obama was an "American".

worlddan:Well, the president is right. The root of evil is in America. If nothing else the response the last 12 hours proves that. The only way we know how to respond to an over-the-top action is with an even more over-he-top reaction. Whatever happened to," stay calm. breathe"? We "lock down" an entire city in the search for one man; people at the bus stops were told to go home and they went; that is the a cavern capitulation to evil. Yesterday a bomb blast in an Iraqi cafe killed 27 people. Life went on.

Only when we stop the drama will the drama stop.

Enjoy your stay in Gitmo. We'll have none of that terrorist sympathizing nonsense around here.

hasty ambush:SoupJohnB: This has sent me scrambling to update my historical and geopolitical comprehension of the region.

/So, Who really is the President of Uz-becky-becky-becky-Stan?

To be fair nobody can really comprehend what goes on in that region.

I tried to locate Chechnya on a (paper) World Map, from Doctors w/o Borders. According to this Rand McNally version, it did not exist - there were no borders or other lines of delineation and demarcation to indicate such a nation state.

Decided that either this was the point of the Doctors, or Rand McNally just gave up on trying to keep it current.